STEWART SNARES CANADIAN SPRINT CAR NATIONALS VICTORY

By Tommy Goudge (September 19, 2009) – One of the main questions heading into the Fifth Annual Arrow Express Canadian Sprint Car Nationals weekend centred around the mystery driver of Tim Norman and Joe Gaerte’s #3g entry. When the final checkered flag flew on Saturday night, everyone knew who was behind the wheel of the “1.0” chassis built by Norman and Gaerte, as Shane Stewart captured the $9,000 winner’s cheque. Stewart took the lead from Tim Kelly on lap seven of the thirty lap A-Feature, and raced through slower traffic to seal the victory over hard-charging Chuck Hebing and ’08 Nationals winner Wayne Johnson.

CANADIAN SPRINT CAR NATIONALS
Jessica Zemken and Tim Kelly made it an all-New York front row for the fifth running of the Canadian Sprint Car Nationals A-Feature, and when the green flag dropped, Kelly got the early advantage and began to stretch his lead. Sixth starting Shane Stewart wasted no time making his way forward, and was in the fight for the runner-up spot with Zemken and Dustin Daggett by lap three.

The next lap saw Stewart make his way past Zemken and into second, while Wayne Johnson and Steve Poirier were also into the top five. By the sixth lap Stewart had run Kelly down, and made his move for the lead in turn one on lap seven. Stewart immediately began to open his lead, while Kelly fell into the clutches of Johnson, who quickly took over second.

With a third of the thirty lap distance in the books, Stewart began to encounter slower traffic at the back of the twenty-nine car field, allowing Johnson to close in. Just as Johnson appeared ready to challenge for the lead, Jamie Collard lost his left rear wheel at the exit of turn two and crashed, resulting in a red flag. Collard emerged uninjured but disappointed. After starting twentieth, Collard was battling to get into the top ten at the time of the incident.

Once the cars had been pushed off again, Jessica Zemken’s right rear tire showed a slow leak, necessitating a pit stop for the driver who was running third at the time. On the restart, Stewart was able to keep Johnson at bay while the action heated up behind them. With half the race done, eleventh starter Chuck Hebing was on the move and into the top five. Six laps later, Hebing drove to third and began to track down Johnson, while the leaders were again in heavy traffic.

With seven laps to go, Kyle Drum got sideways in turn two right in front of the leaders. Stewart was able to get by cleanly, but Johnson had to make an evasive move and lost time, allowing Hebing to close in. Only five laps remained when Hebing was finally able to get by Johnson and into the runner-up spot.

Hebing closed in over the last five laps, but ran out of time to catch Stewart before the checkered flag fell. Stewart claimed the win followed by Hebing, Johnson, Paul McMahan, and Poirier. Rounding out the top ten were Jason Barney, Tim Kelly, Darren Long, Dain Naida, and Lance Yonge.

“They came to me in August at the Knoxville Nationals and asked me to drive this car. They gave me an awesome car and ever since I stepped foot in it this weekend, it’s been so fast every time it touched the race track,” said Stewart in victory lane.

“When the track gets slick like that, you get a little nervous and you’re not sure where to go,” said Stewart of the tricky track conditions. “I was trying to lap Jessica (Zemken) and I just couldn’t do it.”

“When I go to a new place, I want to make sure they remember me. That’s one of my goals,” said Stewart, a former regular on the World of Outlaws tour racing at Ohsweken for the first time this weekend. “I think we did that tonight.”

“I’ve gotta thank all the fans,” said Stewart, “It was cold out tonight.”

Hebing was philosophical about his runner-up finish.

“I wish it was a thirty-five or forty lap race, but they give us thirty laps to get it done and I ran out of time,” said Hebing. “This Rousch/Yates motor runs strong though.”

Stewart’s victory marked the second year in a row that an Oklahoma-born driver claimed the Canadian Nationals victory, following Wayne Johnson’s 2008 triumph.

Ryan Hunsinger was taken to hospital to be checked over after a hard crash in his heat race, but returned to the track before the feature started.

Seventy-seven drivers from five Canadian provinces and eight American states attempted to qualify for the 2009 edition of the Nationals. The father-son team of Lou Kennedy Jr. and Thomas Kennedy became the first drivers from Manitoba to compete in the Nationals, while Travis Rutz and the Pat Beck Motorsports team made the longest journey of any team at this year’s event, travelling over four thousand kilometers from Langley, British Columbia. Three teams made trips over thirty hours from Alberta to Ohsweken to represent the ASCS CanWest series in the Nationals, including Gord Kynoch who became the first Albertan to race at Ohsweken last season. Jessica Lavallee also made the trip from Alberta, as did the Richard Saumere team with Tennessee driver Paul McMahan.

Glenn Styres became the first Canadian driver to claim the fastest overall lap in time trials, giving him both the Kear’s Speed Shop Top Qualifier award, and the Bicknell Racing Products Top Canadian Qualifier award. Shane Stewart, Wayne Johnson, Steve Poirier, Dustin Daggett, Tim Kelly, and Jessica Zemken won the six heat races, while Bubba Broderick, Jamie Collard, and Gregg Dalman took the three B-Mains, and seventh starter Bryan Howland ran down Trevor Lewis for the win in the Little Feature.

J.R. Stewart and his #6s crew were awarded with Corr/Pak Merchandising “Roadkill Bill Peer Memorial” Best Appearing Car honours. With his fifth place finish, Steve Poirier claimed the first Inside Track Motorsport News Top Canadian A-Main Finisher award.